In a speech during the regional workshop, the group's sub-regional office deputy
director Carmela Torres said the group had been monitoring the Philippines'
compliance with international commitments on eliminating the worst forms of
child labor.

Torres said a child labor education task force had been formed to help affected
children in these areas.

"Although substantial progress has been made in providing quality basic
education, this has not impacted on the issue of addressing child labor,"
she said.

Quoting the National Statistics Office 2001 Survey on Working Children, Torres
said four million Filipino children between ages 5-17 were working and more than
half of them were engaged in the worst forms of child labor.

Of the four million, 30 percent or 1.25 million don't attend school, Torres
said.

She said everyone - national and local authorities, employers, social partners,
educators, children, and their families - need to work together to take these
children out of their hazardous work and into schools.